Medina, Laurie K.
(Ph.D. University of California- Los Angeles, 1992)
Associate Professor
medina@msu.edu

LAURIE KROSHUS MEDINA, an Associate Professor of Anthropology, pursues research that integrates issues in economic development, environmentalism, collective identity formation, and social movements. Her research on agricultural development in Belize links the construction and mobilization of collective identities to negotiations over development priorities and agendas. Her work on ecotourism in Belize focuses on efforts to combine economic development with conservation goals.

With funding from the MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Medina’s current project explores the complex negotiations involved in implementing ecotourism in several Mopan Maya villages in the tropical forests of southern Belize. The creation of protected areas in southern Belize and the promotion of tourism to those protected areas have incorporated residents of nearby villages into debates over environmentalist and development agendas that are simultaneously local and global in scope. Maya villagers negotiate with government officials, international development donors, tourists, national and international environmentalist NGOs, and transnational indigenous rights organizations over a range of questions: What are the goals of development and conservation, and how might they be achieved? What rights and resources should local communities enjoy? How should village residents be integrated into ecotourism? What kinds of power are exercised by the diverse stakeholders involved in ecotourism, and how does power structure their participation in planning and policy making? The project also explores negotiations among village residents themselves, over issues such as the gendered impact of ecotourism, the ways that inequalities among villagers enable or limit participation in ecotourism, and representations of Maya culture in tourism. Since contests over the concepts of ‘environment’ and ‘development’ in southern Belize are linked to Maya struggles for land and autonomy, the research also explores Maya communities’ efforts to mobilize alliances with pan-Indian and environmentalist NGOs to pursue claims to land.

Dr. Medina’s courses include a graduate seminar on the production and mobilization of collective identities and the graduate seminar in Culture, Resources, and Power. She also teaches the undergraduate Culture, Resources, and Power course, along with courses on Latin America, gender, and race and ethnicity.

A few recent publications include:

• Medina, Laurie Kroshus. Ecotourism and Certification: Confronting the Principles and Pragmatics of Socially Responsible Tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism 13(3):281-295, 2005.
• Medina, Laurie Kroshus. Negotiating Economic Development: Identity Formation and Collective Action in Belize. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2004.
• Medina, Laurie Kroshus. Commoditizing Culture: Tourism and Maya Identity. Annals of Tourism Research 30(2):353-368, 2003.
• Medina, Laurie Kroshus. History, Culture, and Place-Making: ‘Native’ Status and Maya Identity in Belize. Journal of Latin American Anthropology 4(1):134-165, 1998.
• Medina, Laurie Kroshus. The Impact of Free Trade Initiatives on the Caribbean Basin: from ‘Democracy’ to ‘Efficiency’ in Belize. Latin American Perspectives 25(5):27-49, 1998.
• Medina, Laurie Kroshus. Defining Difference, Forging Unity: the co-construction of race, ethnicity, and nation in Belize. Ethnic and Racial Studies 20(4):757-780, 1997.
• Medina, Laurie Kroshus. Development Policies and Identity Politics: Class and Collectivity in Belize. American Ethnologist 24(1):148-169, 1997.